Usually around this time of year I get giddy with excitement at the thought of attending the Tofu Festival which coincides with Nisei Week in Little Tokyo. However it looks like the festival has run its course on the L.A. landscape. The good people at the Little Tokyo Service Center have decided to call it quits after a stunning 12 year run.
I've attended the Tofu Festival for the past 4 years and always had a great time trying new and innovative dishes involving the loving little bean curd. My least favorite part of the experience was walking around on hot asphalt and sweating profusely in the brutal August sun, but that never steered me, nor thousands of others, away. However after last year's event, which had to find a new home due to construction in the parking lot they had previously held the festival, one could sense that the end was near.
To that end, I was going to share with everyone my beloved official recipe for Tofu Tostadas from the Church of Perfect Liberty but in looking for the recipe just now I realized that I lost it in the fire. Very sad. And a brief online search for it yielded nothing as well, so here it goes from memory and how I normally make them:
1 block of firm tofu
green pepper
yellow pepper
tomato
green onion
chopped cilantro
lime juice
minced fresh garlic
salt & pepper
Chop up veggies and put in a large bowl with the cilantro, lime juice, garlic and S&P. Cube the tofu and add into the veggie mix. Toss gently and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes for the flavors to absorb into the tofu. Dish a heaping spoonful onto a hard tostada shell and enjoy!
Obviously you can alter this recipe to suit your tastes, so get creative and have some fun.
Me and my tofu bunny are now going to have a moment of silence for the Tofu Festival.
x
Hmm, I went to the last 3 or 4 tofu festivals and observed a slide in quality, each fest interesting me less and less each year, so I'm not too surprised it has gone away. I do however enjoy my tofu cookbook from the fest 2 years ago...
Posted by: the daniel | July 28, 2008 at 12:05 PM
i have that cookbook too!! it's a great treasure.
i think that it was a combo of losing the parking lot and the organizers just not wanting to do it anymore,can you blame them? such a huge undertaking. at least we have our memories.
Posted by: shannon | July 28, 2008 at 12:42 PM
The Tofu Festival was a victim of its own success. Many people are not aware that the purpose of the festival was to raise money for the non-profit LTSC. but after it grew exponentially, especially in the past few years, the overhead costs to put it on eventually outweighed the net funds to be raised.
Posted by: militant angeleno | July 28, 2008 at 01:54 PM
Oh man! Too bad. The best part about the tofu fest for me foodwise were the soy shaved-ice cones with that sweet tofu syrup--it helped beat the heat!
Posted by: Cici | July 28, 2008 at 09:02 PM